Improvement in heddle-frames



G. CROMPTON.

HEDDLE-FRAME.

Patented May15, 1 877.

Wz'in es 5 e s.

UNITED STATES PATENT Grmon GEORGE GROMPTON, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN HEDDLE-FRAMES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. [90.708. dated May 15,1877; appl cation fi ed March 7, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE GROMPTON, of Worcester, in the county ofWorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement inHeddle-Frames, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to heddle-frames for looms; and has for itsobject to make the frames very thin, so that a greater number of framesmay be brought into a smaller space than heretofore common. Toaccomplish this, and at the same time to prevent the contiguous framesfrom catching against each other when being raised and lowered, I extendthe top and bottom of each frame or portions thereof, so that suchprojecting portions at the top or bottom of a lowered or raised framewill always bear against the adjacent frame, and prevent such movementof the frames in the direction of the length of the warp as would causethe cross-bar of the frame next the beddie-carrying bars to catch oneagainst the other as is now common when such cross-barsin ordinaryheddle-frames are strained, bent, or sprung, as they are apt to be ifmade thin, so that they are not very rigid.

The invention also consists in so arranging the heddle-carrying bars inthe frame that one or both of them may be moved toward the other, andcombining therewith a separable heddle, to permit the removal of an eyepor tion of a heddle without removing a bar; also, in the combination oftwo heddle-frames with retaining connections, whereby each frame ispermitted to move over the other only in the direction of its height.

Figure 1 represents two heddle-frames and retaining connections. Figs. 2and 3 represent modifications of heddle-frames Figs. 4 and 5, differentplans of books for the heddle-wires; and Fig. 6, a heddle-bar holderdetached.

The heddle-frame is composed of cross-bars a a, connected as usual bymeans of side bars b. In an ordinary frame the side bars terminatesubstantially at the edges of the crossbars a. The shed in an ordinaryopen shedloom is about seven inches in depth, requiring each frame torise or fall at the widest part a distance of three and one-half inches.As ordinarily constructed, the lower and upper ends of each side bar,when the frames are raised or lowered, pass above or below the cross-barot' the adjacent frame, and in order to prevent one cross-bar fromcatching upon another the frames have to be made quite thick, usuallythree-eighths of an inch or more.

My frames are made much thinner, commonly not over one'fourth of an inchin thickness. The cross-bars being so thin would spring and catchagainst each other when the shed was being formed or closed, if theywere not provided with extensions from the top cross-bars upward and thebottom cross-bars downward. These extensions 0 c are equal in thicknessto the thickness of the bars a, and their length below the top of thelower bar a. or above the bottom of the upper bar a, is greater thanhalf the distance of the depth of the shed. In a shed seven inches deep,the length of the extensions and bar would be each about four inches.

In Fig. 1, the extensions 0 at their ends remote from the center of theheddle-frame enter an auxiliary cross-bar, d, that acts to steady theextreme ends of the extensions, while at the same time they act toprolong the extensionsf These auxiliary cross-bars may be omitted, asshown at Fig. 2, and instead of the two extensions 0 one may be used, asshown in dotted lines at c, or more than two extensions may be used. Soalso the upper and lower portions of the frame may be composed of abroad plate of metal, as in Fig. 3, or of a single broad bar of a depthgreater than the extent of movement of the heddle-frame.

In Fig. 1, the extensions 0 are held together by means ofretaining-connections f made as bolts, with a head at each end, andfitted within slots made in the frames, the heads of the bolts beingbelow, or flush with, the surface of the extensions. In this way twoadjacent frames may slide, one over the other, and one may be made tostiffen the other more than if the two frames merely rested one againstthe other.

The heddle-holding rods 9 are made, as usual, of metal, and providedwith eyes or holes at each end to receive a hook, h, of a beddle-barholder, 71, composed of a piece of wire provided with acoiled-spring-like projection, j, to enter a hole in the side bar, andwith a curved or bent portion, is, by which to easily operate theholder, to insert or remove its hook from the eye of the bar g. Theheddles are of wire, and when broken or injured need to be removed andnew ones substituted therefor.

The drawings show several forms of hooks and heddles, whereby any heddlemay be removed or put upon the bars 9 without removing other heddlesfrom the bars.

In the first form the wire eyes 1 are attached to books 2 placed uponthe bars g. These bars are, or one only of them may be, placed in a slotin the side bar, the slot being of a length greater than the width ofthe bar, so that the bar, when released from its holder, may be moved insuch slot toward the other bar g, which will permit the eye to bedetached from the hook 2 of sheet metal or wire.

A notch, 3, in the bar permits it to be moved toward the other bar, thenotch then being opposite the center stay 4 of the bar g.

Instead of making the hook removable from the heddle-eye that containsthe warp, the book may be made, as at 5, so as to be sprung upon or fromthe bar. With a hook like 5 the bars need not be moved. The hook maybemade, as at 6, of the same wires that con stitute the eye-part for thewarp.

With such a hook the bars must be moved toward the center of the frameto remove the heddle. In the frame shown in Fig. 2, wherein theauxiliary cross-bars are omitted, the ends of the side bars need notextend farther than usual below the cross-bars a. The heddle-frames areconnected with and raised and lowered through cords attached toharnesslevers in the manner common to my ordinary looms.

I claim- 1. The combination, with the main portion of the heddle-frame,of extensions at the top and bottom thereof, whereby the saidheddleframe is adapted to remain in contact with an adjacentheddle-frame at both its highest and lowest position, to prevent theadjacent frames catching one against the other when raised or lowered toform the shed, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the frame and hcddle-holding bar made movabletoward the other bar of the frame, of a heddle and hook, whereby theheddle may be removed from the frame or be secured therein,substantially as described.

3. The combination, with two heddle-frames provided with extensions, ofheddle-retaining connections, to hold them together, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in thepresen of two subscribing witnesses.

GEO. GROMPTON.

Witnesses:

J. B. SYME, J. A. WARE.

